The present invention is directed to the assignment of agents in a contact center. More particularly, embodiments provide for the selective, temporary assignment of agents to contact center queues.
Call center agents are used to provide customer service and support. Commonly, call center agents are assigned to particular queues within the call center. Each queue is adapted to provide particular types of services. For example, different queues can be defined for performing or facilitating different types of transactions with customers.
In connection with the operation of call center queues, it is desirable to minimize caller wait times. In order to maintain service requirements, for example to avoid wait times that are too long, systems have been developed to reallocate agents automatically, or in response to manually administered instructions. Automatic systems have been inflexible, in that they rely on accurate and complete information regarding agent qualifications and queue requirements in order to move agents between queues. In addition, systems that operate autonomously do not benefit from the intuition and experience of human supervisors. Manual systems also have limitations in that the administrator entering changes to the queue assignments must remember to undo those changes when the queue returns to a healthy state, in order to allow the call center to function optimally.
Systems and methods that allow an administrator to make temporary changes to call or contact center assignments are provided. More particularly, when an administrator enters a change to queue assignments within a call center, one or more call center parameters are monitored to determine when the temporary assignment can be undone. These parameters can include, but are not limited to, the expiration of a specified period of time, or the return of the queue to a healthy state.
The temporary changes entered by an administrator, such as a contact center supervisor, operations manager, or work force manager, can include assigning additional agents to a queue in trouble, altering the skill level of agents already assigned to a queue in trouble, adjusting the skill level of agents not already assigned to a queue in trouble, or any other adjustment to a parameter used by the automatic call distribution system to assign work to agents.
Methods in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure can include determining that a queue associated with a contact center is in trouble. The method further includes receiving manually entered instructions from an administrator to increase the number of agents available to service the queue in trouble. After manually administered adjustments have been entered, the automatic call distribution system can monitor the health of the queue. If the queue that was in trouble has returned to a normal, healthy state, the ACD system or application can undo the manually entered changes. Alternatively or in addition, if a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the change was entered manually, that change can be undone. In addition to such automatic resetting of queue related parameters to a normal configuration, an administrator can manually undo changes.
Additional features and advantages of embodiments of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following description, particularly when taken together with the accompanying drawings.
The contact center 104 generally includes a call center server, such as an automatic contact (or call) distribution (ACD) system server 116 (hereafter “ACD server 116”). The ACD server 116 is illustratively the MultiVantage™ enterprise communications system-based ACD system available from Avaya Inc. The ACD server 116 is interconnected to a plurality of agent work stations or endpoints 120. Each workstation 120 can be associated with a resource, such as a human agent 122. Alternatively or in addition, an agent workstation 120 can comprise an autonomous resource. In addition, the ACD server 116 can be interconnected to a supervisor or administrator work station 124. The supervisor work station 124 is generally associated with a supervisor, administrator, or other user 126. The agent work stations 120 and the supervisor work station 124 may be connected to the ACD server 116 by a voice and/or data transmission medium or enterprise network 128. The contact center 104 can additionally include other resources 136, such as data repositories or processors.
The ACD server 116 generally functions to connect agent work stations 120 to customer devices or endpoints 108 through the communication network 112, to place customers 110 in communication with agents 122. In addition, the ACD server 116 maintains queues 132 for servicing customer contacts. The different queues 132 can be used to sort contacts from customer endpoints 108 by type, identity of the customer or contact, or otherwise organize contacts or any other attribute or set of attributes. Accordingly, a queue 132 can contain a listing or grouping of customer contacts. Agents 122, associated with the agent workstations 120, are assigned to provide services to contacts that have been placed within one or more of the queues 132 based on availability and/or weighting factors.
The ACD server 116 additionally includes memory 208. The memory 208 can be used in connection with the execution of programming by the processor 204, and for the temporary or long term storage of data or program instructions. For example, the ACD server 116 can include an automatic call distribution (ACD) application 220 that is stored in memory 208. As an additional example, the memory 208 may be used in connection with the operation of an ACD control system application 224 stored in the memory 208 that operates as an adjunct to or in cooperation with the ACD system application 212. As described herein, the ACD control system application 224 can provide a user interface for displaying information to and receiving control input from a supervisor or other user 126. The ACD control system application 224 can also implement functions to undo manually entered changes to the ACD system 104 as also described herein. The memory 208 can also function as a store for records or other data 228 related to the ACD queues 132 maintained by the ACD server 116. The memory 208 can include solid state memory that is resident, removable and/or remote in nature, such as DRAM and SDRAM. Alternatively or in addition, the memory 208 can include magnetic, optical or other storage devices. Moreover, the memory 208 can include a plurality of discrete components of different types and/or a plurality of logical partitions.
In addition, one or more user input devices 212 and user output devices 216 may be provided. Examples of user input devices 212 include a keyboard, numeric keypad, touch screen, microphone, scanner, and pointing device combined with a screen or other position encoder. Examples of user output devices 216 include a display, a speaker, and a printer. In general, user input 212 and user output devices 216 are used by an administrator or a supervisor to configure aspects of the operation of the ACD system 116. User input devices 212 and user output devices 216 may be directly connected to the ACD server 116. Alternatively or in addition, user input devices 212 and user output devices 216 can be provided as part of a separate device that is in communication with the ACD server 116, for example by a supervisor device 124. Moreover, a supervisor device 124 can be remote with respect to the ACD system server. One or more communications interfaces 232 can be provided to connect the ACD server 116 to the networks 112 and/or 128.
With reference now to
In response to a determination that a queue 132 is in trouble, the supervisor 126 can manually enter changes to the queue 132 or agent 122 parameters, by entering the change parameters in the user interface 304 (step 412). This manual manipulation of the call center 104 parameters can be made regardless of whether the ACD application 220 is also making adjustments to such parameters. Moreover, manually entered changes or input can override automatic changes. Examples of the changes or input that the administrator 126 can enter manually include associating individual agents 122 with a skill or skills that will enable such agents 122 to be assigned work from the in-trouble queue 132, increasing the skill level for agents 122 who are already assigned to the in-trouble queue 132 in order to increase the likelihood that such agents 122 will be assigned work from the in-trouble queue 132, assigning agents 122 from other queues or other work assignments to the in-trouble queue 132, or any other manipulation of agent 122 parameters that will increase the number of agents 122 and/or the skill level of agents 122 assigned to the in-trouble queue 122. Similarly, action taken by the administrator 126 can include reducing the number of required skill and/or skill levels with respect to an in-trouble queue 132. Accordingly, any change to a parameter associated with an agent 122 or a queue 132 can be entered, at the discretion of the administrator 126, in order to improve service quality with respect to the in-trouble queue 132.
After or upon receiving the supervisor 126 input, the ACD control system application 224 starts a timer (step 416). The timer can be implemented as part of the
ACD control system application 224 or separately. At step 420, a determination can be made as to whether the timer has expired (i.e., whether a predetermined or selected period of time has elapsed). The amount of time until the timer elapses can be fixed, variable based on control or ACD system 104 parameters, or selected by the supervisor 126. If the timer has not yet expired, a determination can next be made as to whether the in-trouble queue 132 has returned to a normal state (step 424). Once the timer has expired, or once the previously in-trouble queue 132 is returned to a normal, healthy state, the change or changes to the parameters entered by the administrator 126 at step 312 are reversed or undone (step 428). Operation of the system can then end.
As can be appreciated by one of skill in the art after consideration of the present disclosure, systems and methods provided herein allow a supervisor 126 manual control over parameters that affect the quality of service associated with ACD system 104 queues 132. In addition, by providing for the automatic reversal of manually entered changes upon the expiration of a predetermined period of time or the return of the previously in-trouble queue 132 to a normal state, the administrator 126 is not required to remember to undo the manually entered changes after such changes are no longer needed and/or are no longer desirable.
In accordance with other embodiments, a supervisor 126 can exercise manual control over parameters associated with ACD system 104 queues 132, even when those queues 132 are not in trouble. For example, a supervisor 126 may desire a change for other reasons, for example to temporarily assign an agent 122 to a task outside of their normal work assignment, or for any other reason. The manually entered change can, by operation of the ACD system application 216, be undone after a predetermined period of time has elapsed. In such an embodiment or scenario, the manually entered change would not be undone as a result of the ACD system 104 being in a normal operational state or due to a queue 132 returning from an in-trouble state to a healthy state. For example, when a change is made to a queue 132 while that queue 132 is in a healthy state, the expiration of a timer can be used as a trigger to return that parameter to a previous state automatically, while the health status of the queue 132 can be disabled as a trigger for undoing the change.
The foregoing discussion of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. Further, the description is not intended to limit the invention to the form disclosed herein. Consequently, variations and modifications commensurate with the above teachings, within the skill or knowledge of the relevant art, are within the scope of the present invention. The embodiments described hereinabove are further intended to explain the best mode presently known of practicing the invention and to enable others skilled in the art to utilize the invention in such or in other embodiments and with various modifications required by the particular application or use of the invention. It is intended that the appended claims be construed to include alternative embodiments to the extent permitted by the prior art.